App eases records burden on cattle farms

Andrew farms 300 acres at South Ross Farm in Ellerton near York, plus rented land, and rears between 650-700 mainly black and white calves, as well as running a 40-strong single suckler herd of stabiliser cows.

He sources the calves directly from a local dairy farm, in batches of 20 at a time, collects them himself, and says this is a much better way of buying as he knows exactly where they have come from, what treatments they have had, and their health status.

The calves are bought at about two weeks of age, and kept for between 13-14 weeks, before being sold. Moving them is stressful, so Andrew has agreed with his supplier that they are vaccinated for pneumonia three or four days before they are moved - this alone has resulted in him receiving better calves.

He said: “One of the issues here is that we are very busy, with different family members working on the farm, so it was always difficult for us to have up-to-date records and to know what animal had had what treatment.”

This is where using the ‘Herdwatch’ app has proved to be a boon for Andrew.

“We needed a cloud-based system that worked on our phones, and we’ve found Herdwatch fits the bill perfectly. Everything is in your hand, and the information is there, completely up-to-date, for anyone linked to the system to see at any time.”

In the past Andrew used to write all his notes in his diary, and says if they weren’t put on the computer that night, it could be three to four weeks before he got round to it.

“After a long day, the last thing anyone wants to do in the evening is paperwork.”

The app is mostly used for the calf unit, where all the records are available at a touch of a button. All medical records and vaccinations are recorded.

“Now anyone working on the farm can just tap in the ear tag number and the whole record for the calf comes up in an instant. So, we all know if a calf has been treated, if it’s on a course of antibiotics, for example, or has been recorded as looking under the weather.

“We’re using it all the time, it’s been a game changer for us.”

Herdwatch launched in the UK last year, winning an innovation award at the LAMMA Show.

It was developed in Ireland in 2011 following a ‘eureka’ moment by co-founder Fabian Peyaud, whose research found that more than 90 per cent of cattle farmers did not use any form of herd management software.

For more details, visit www.herdwatch.co.uk